Clarity. Advocacy. Simplicity. Creativity. I like making connections. Not to confuse but to understand. From inspiring to amusing to unexpected ... to politically progressive. Between people, places, things. Ideas, beliefs, words. Events, issues, solutions. To explain. To enjoy. To grow. To advise. For fun, call me Garbl. I'm an acronym!

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Friday, November 30, 2012

So, you've finished the first draft of a document, or you've just drafted the first section of a document. And before you continue, you want to make sure you're on the right track with it--not just in its content but also in its ease of use for your readers, its clarity, its readability.

In this article, Rachel McAlpine of New Zealand describes a useful 10-point objective test for plain language based on research-supported guidelines. She also provides a downloadable version of the test, easy to keep handy at your desk for reviewing and revising your documents.

With permission of McAlpine and Contented.com, here's the test:

Contented's Plain Language Objective Test (PLOT)

The main message and purpose of the document are obvious at the beginning. (Test this with five outsiders.)

The structure of the document is obvious, for example through an informative title, headlines and table of contents. (Test this with five outsiders.)